Wildfire — Restaurant in Tysons

My husband and I were hungry for steak so we stopped into Wildfire, in Tysons Galleria mall for a late lunch/early dinner on Sunday. Our waiter, at first, was quite friendly, though he tried getting me to order my Cosmo with a top shelf drink for apparently rail drinks tend to give many people headaches. Nice try. I thought that was funny but shrugged it off. Their (free) cornbread was good. Then came our appetizers, two cups of the shrimp and crab bisque and a salad. The bisque was very good. The salad was quite wilted and it wasn't from the dressing- so wet or that aside. I ordered a filet mignon (medium) with a parmesan crust, a side of fries, and an extra side of broccoli with a lemon vinaigrette. My husband ordered the prime rib and baked potatoes. After finishing our appetizers, waiting another 10 - 15 minutes with no word from our waiter. I had to flag him down to ask about our main dishes. He kept walking past our table, within the room, without checking on us nor looking in our direction at all so we could get his attention. The food finally came out and my husband's prime rib was cool to the touch, the plate was actually cold when it is normally hot, there was barely any au jus sauce and the cut he said was like a USDA choice steak not a USDA prime as he thought (for the price), so it was very chewy and cool. His baked potato was good. My filet was more medium rare with a hot red center inside but the parmesan crust was very good though not crunchy as i thought it would be but soggy- it had a good flavor though. The hot fries were brought on a separate plate so I dumped them into my steak so it was like steak and frites-it was delicious- I gave the center of my filet to my husband since it was medium rare. The broccoli was just water absorbed tasting- so I didn't eat it. We had to flag down the waiter again so i can let him know about the broccoli for I wanted the extra $6.00 to be taken off our bill (crazy amount for water soaked broccoli with no seasonings). Our waiter never stopped by to ask how things were until I flagged him down. To top things off, we were waiting and waiting for our check. Our waiter walked by several times, not close to our table mind you but in the surrounding area/room, and he never once looked our way. There was one point that there were no staff members in the bar area, where we were eating with a few other tables occupied, for probably a good 3-5 minutes. When our waiter family was seen, he was carrying a plate of food and a drink and went and sat down at the bar area to have his meal. In the meantime, we've been waiting for our bill for awhile and had to flag down someone else for assistance. Once received, we had to ask him to remove the broccoli charge our original waiter was going to remove. I assume they were understaffed but this was crazy and made what was to be a relaxing late afternoon lunch/early dinner into a stressful event. Not a nice way to end the weekend. I have kids in the restaurant industry and they would have never conducted business this way. When someone's shift ends or they go on break they make someone aware of what is outstanding or...

It is hard to post a 2-star review for Wildfire because it has been a go-to in the past. The restaurant is well decorated for Christmas and the ambience is very nice. The food was very good this time, as it has been in the past. Now, for the reason I'm giving 2 stars....

The service was terrible - absolutely horrendous. It started with my son asking the server for a new glass because there was something brown stuck on the inside. She initially said that it was probably the light. Really?! I told her, no...there is something brown stuck inside of the glass. She looked again, saw it, and apologized. It no kidding took 15 minutes and two reminders to get a replacement water. It finally came out after the food...with the Tabasco that we had to request 3 times.

My son eats gluten free so the server gave him a gluten free menu. The hostess even confirmed when we arrived for our reservation that we had someone who was gluten free. My son ordered the burger on a gluten free bun, and even confirmed with the server that the bun was gluten free when he ordered. They brought a burger out on a sesame seed bun and put it in front of me. I said that nobody at our table ordered a regular burger, but that my son had ordered a gluten free burger. The guy asked me "are you sure?" Ummm....yes. That's actually pretty dangerous. What if he would have put it in front of my son and he ate it thinking it was on a gluten free bun? He would have gotten violently ill.

I ordered the prime rib French dip, which was really good. It was supposed to come with fries and Cole slaw. It also had the option to add mushrooms. When I ordered, I pointed to the exact spot on the menu that said "add mushrooms" and said I would like to.add mushrooms. I was given a sandwich with Cole slaw, no fries, and a side of whole mushrooms. Normally, I wouldn't have thought much about it, but with the multiple other issues with the visit, it really ruined what I typically consider a great restaurant. I hope it was just a bad experience for us and that it isn't...

Interesting high end surf and turf restaurant. Came here the Sunday before Christmas. I believe they were understaffed but then again what restaurant today isn't understaffed? I opted for the catch of the day special which was an Atlantic cod with a cornbread crust. All my friends had steaks but they all didn't seem too pleased. My cod was light, not heavy, and quite delicious. It is set atop a shredded brussel sprout and cranberry sauce/reduction. The brussel sprout was good but the cranberry was a weird pairing/taste. Maybe it's just me but the cod was already light and I don't think it needed that citrus/sourness to cut what little "grease" there was....which wasn't.

I also had ordered they key lime pie which is not a slice, but a miniature key lime pie. It was good but I thought it could have used a little more while cream on top and a little less sugar. It was a little sweet but it could be me since I tend to prefer desserts that is a little less sweet than most. One of my friends also had the key lime pie and he said he thought it could have used a nice cup of coffee, though because it was dinner time it was a bit late.

The food was good. Overall experience did not have any issues. It could have been better but it was bad at all. If it's a special occasion it cans be on your list. It is definitely on the expensive side. Then again, it is a steak house.

Could be...